Fan enabling increased wind pressure and air volume

ABSTRACT

A fan enabling increased wind pressure and air volume includes a driving circuit unit, a signal level unit, a signal amplifying unit, and a microcontroller unit (MCU). The driving circuit unit drives the fan to rotate; the signal level unit receives a current signal from the driving circuit unit and corrects the level of the received current signal, and sends the corrected current signal to the signal amplifying unit; the signal amplifying unit receives and amplifies the corrected current signal, and sends the amplified current signal to the MCU; and the MCU calculates based on the amplified current signal to generate a control signal to the driving circuit unit, so that the driving circuit unit follows the control signal to drive the fan to rotate and produce increased wind pressure and air volume to achieve effective heat dissipation at reduced power consumption.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a fan enabling increased wind pressure and air volume, and more particularly to a fan that uses a signal amplifying unit to amplify a current signal and transmits the same to a microcontroller unit for the latter to calculate and generate a control signal for controlling the fan to rotate and produce increased wind pressure and air volume.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

With the increasing developments in technological fields, various kinds of electronic products have been designed to provide more functions so as to increase their value in use. The increased functions necessitate the provision of more components or parts in a system having a fixed volume. The large quantity of components or parts in the electronic product result in reduced internal spaces of the system while produce more heat in the limited internal spaces of the system to necessitate the use of cooling means to carry away the produced high amount of heat. A cooling fan is most frequently selected to solve the problem of heat produced in the system because it produces convective air flows to carry away the produced heat from the system. However, when the airflows produced by the cooling fan inward flow through the system, they are inevitably impeded by the components or parts densely arranged in the system to result in largely reduced cooling effect. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the air volume and wind pressure produced by the cooling fan to maintain the expected cooling effect. Currently, there are two ways to achieve this purpose. The first way is to increase the rotating speed of the fan, and the second way is to change the blade structure of the fan. However, the increased fan rotating speed would disadvantageously result in consumption of more power and accordingly waste of more energy resource.

FIG. 1 shows different fan characteristic curves for a general fan used with a system having a relatively small number of components or parts arranged therein. When the fan is started to rotate, airflows produced by the fan are interfered in their flow paths by the components in the system. That is, the impedance of the internal components of the system will prevent the airflows produced by the fan from flowing smoothly to result in loss in wind pressure. In FIG. 1, the curve B1 is a system impedance curve representing changes in the loss of air volume produced by the fan, and will become lowered when the number of components or parts in the system is low; the curve T1 is an air volume curve representing the operating characteristic of the fan measured in a wind tunnel; the point P1 is an intersection of the curve B1 with the curve T1 representing an operating point of the system; and the circled area Q surrounding the operating point P1 is an operating range representing the operating performance of the fan used with the system having lower number of internal components.

Please refer to FIG. 2 that shows different fan characteristic curves of a fan having increased rotating speeds and current for use in a system having densely arranged internal components or parts. When the fan is rotated to produce airflows, the airflows are interfered in their flow paths by the components in the system. That is, the impedance of the internal components of the system will prevent the airflows produced by the fan from flowing smoothly to result in loss in wind pressure. In FIG. 2, the curve B1 is the system impedance curve representing changes in the loss of air volume produced by the fan, and will become higher when the number of components or parts in the system is high; the curve T1 is the air volume curve representing the operating characteristic of the fan measured in a wind tunnel; the point P1 is the intersection of the curve B1 with the curve T1 representing an operating point of the system; and the circled area Q surrounding the point P1 is an operating range representing the operating performance of the fan for carrying away the heat produced in the system.

As can be seen from FIGS. 1 and 2, the two circled areas Q representing the operating performance of the two types of conventional fans are relatively small. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the conventional fans to increase its operating performance.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A primary object of the present invention is to provide a fan that enables increased wind pressure and air volume to achieve effective heat dissipation while requiring only a low current value.

To achieve the above and other objects, the fan enabling increased wind pressure and air volume according to the present invention includes a driving circuit unit, a signal level unit, a signal amplifying unit, and a microcontroller unit (MCU). The driving circuit unit drives the fan to rotate; the signal level unit receives a current signal from the driving circuit unit and corrects the level of the received current signal, and sends the corrected current signal to the signal amplifying unit; the signal amplifying unit receives and amplifies the corrected current signal, and sends the amplified current signal to the MCU; and the MCU calculates based on the amplified current signal to generate a control signal to the driving circuit unit, so that the driving circuit unit follows the control signal to drive the fan to rotate and produce increased wind pressure and air volume to achieve effective heat dissipation at reduced power consumption.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein

FIG. 1 shows different fan characteristic curves of a conventional fan;

FIG. 2 shows different fan characteristic curves of another conventional fan;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a fan enabling increased wind pressure and air volume according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 shows different fan characteristic curves of the fan according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Please refer to FIG. 3, which is a block diagram of a fan enabling increased wind pressure and air volume according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the fan of the present invention includes a driving circuit unit 10, a signal level unit 20, a signal amplifying unit 30, and a microcontroller unit (MCU) 40.

The driving circuit unit 10 is electrically connected to a fan 50 for driving the fan to rotate. The signal level unit 20 is electrically connected to the driving circuit unit 10 for receiving a current signal sent by the driving circuit unit 10 and correcting the level of the received current signal. The signal amplifying unit 30 may be a power amplifier or an operational amplifier, and is electrically connected to the signal level unit 20 for removing some of the noises in the current signal and then amplifying the current signal. The MCU 40 is electrically connected to the signal amplifying unit 30 and the driving circuit unit 10 for conducting calculation and analysis based on the current signal received from the signal amplifying unit 30 to generate a control signal to the driving circuit unit 10, so that the driving circuit unit 10 controls the rotation of the fan 50 according to the received control signal.

When the fan 50 starts rotating, the driving circuit unit 10 generates a current signal to the signal level unit 20. The signal level unit 20 regulates the level of the received current signal and transmits the regulated current signal to the signal amplifying unit 30. The signal amplifying unit 30 amplifies the received current signal and transmits the amplified current signal to the MCU 40. The MCU 40 calculates data of the amplified current signal to generate a control signal to the driving circuit unit 10, and the driving circuit unit 10 follows the received control signal to control the rotation of the fan 50, so that the fan 50 may produce increased wind pressure and air volume at low current value to effectively achieve the purposes of dissipating heat and saving energy.

FIG. 4 shows different fan characteristic curves of the fan 50 according to the present invention. As can be seen from FIG. 4, the air volume curve T2 indicates the fan 50 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention requires only a low current value or a current specification value thereof to be driven to rotate. The system impedance curve B1 of the fan 50 intersects the air volume curve T2 to produce a system operating point P2, which is also the optimal operating point of the fan. As can be seen from FIG. 4, the system operating point P2 is located in the operating area Q at a position obviously higher than that of the system operating point P1 of the conventional fan. That is, the wind pressure and air volume corresponding to the system operating point P2 are obviously higher than those corresponding to the system operating point P1 on the air volume curve T1. This means the fan 50 has entirely enhanced fan performance characteristics and higher air volume curve T2 to produce largely increased wind pressure and air volume. Therefore, the fan reaches the optimized operating performance thereof to effectively dissipate heat and overcomes the problems of increased power consumption caused by changing motor characteristics, such as high current value and resultant high power consumption in direct proportion to the current, as well as burnout by high-temperature heat produced by the high-speed rotation of the fan. In brief, the fan of the present invention enables enhanced fan operating characteristics to produce increased wind pressure and air volume without the need of increasing the power for driving the motor thereof, and is therefore energy-saving, too.

In conclusion, the fan enabling increased wind pressure and air volume according to the present invention has the following advantages:

-   1. The rotation of the fan 50 is controlled through the signal     amplifying unit 30 and the MCU 40, so that only a low current value     is needed to obtain desired wind pressure and air volume. Therefore,     the fan of the present invention is energy-saving. -   2. The signal amplifying unit 30 amplifies the current signal and     transmits the amplified current signal to the MCU 40, and the MCU 40     calculates data of the current signal to generate the control signal     to the driving circuit unit 10, so that the driving circuit unit 10     follows the control signal to control the rotation of the fan 50.     Therefore, the wind pressure and the air volume may be effectively     increased to achieve the purpose of heat dissipation.

The present invention has been described with a preferred embodiment thereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications in the described embodiment can be carried out without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention that is intended to be limited only by the appended claims. 

1. A fan enabling increased wind pressure and air volume, comprising: a driving circuit unit electrically connected to the fan for driving the fan to rotate; a signal level unit electrically connected to the driving circuit unit for receiving a current signal from the driving circuit unit and correcting a level of the received current signal; a signal amplifying unit electrically connected to the signal level unit for receiving the corrected current signal from the signal level unit and amplifying the received current signal; and a microcontroller unit (MCU) electrically connected to the signal amplifying unit and the driving circuit unit, and receiving the amplified current signal from the signal amplifying unit; wherein the MCU conducts calculation based on the received current signal that has been corrected in level by the signal level unit and amplified by the signal amplifying unit, and generates a control signal to the driving circuit unit, so that the driving circuit unit follows the control signal to control the fan to rotate and produce increased wind pressure and air volume.
 2. The fan enabling increased wind pressure and air volume as claimed in claim 1, wherein the signal amplifying unit is a power amplifier.
 3. The fan enabling increased wind pressure and air volume as claimed in claim 1, wherein the signal amplifying unit is an operational amplifier. 